The CCRN Neonatal is a certification exam created by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses Certification Corporation that is very similar to the CCRN Pediatric Exam except that the CCRN Neonatal Exam is used to determine whether or not an individual has the knowledge necessary to be an effective critical care nurse specifically for infants.
The CCRN Neonatal Exam does not register an individual as a registered nurse and is usually not required for an individual to work in a neonatal critical care unit. However, it is an indication that an individual has an advanced knowledge of critical care procedures related to neonatal care and allows the individual to use the CCRN letters after his or her licensing credentials.
The CCRN Neonatal Exam consists of 150 multiple-choice questions, 125 of which are scored and 25 that are not scored, that covers information related to the following areas:
- Cardiovascular (10%)
- Endocrine (4%)
- Gastrointestinal (7%)
- Hematology and Immunology (4%)
- Multisystem (11%)
- Neurology (6%)
- Pulmonary (36%)
- Renal (2%)
- Advocacy and Moral Agency (2%)
- Caring Practices (4%)
- Collaboration (4%)
- Clinical Inquiry (2%)
- Facilitation of Learning (4%)
- Handling Diversity (2%)
- Systems Thinking (2%)
Individuals taking any CCRN exam will have three hours to complete the exam. The CCRN Neonatal Exam is scored in the same manner as the CCRN Pediatric Exam and the individual will receive a final grade of pass or fail depending upon whether or not the individual answers enough questions correctly to reach the passing threshold. The number of correct responses required to pass the CCRN Neonatal Exam is usually 70% or 88 questions, but varies depending upon exactly which exam questions an individual receives.
For an individual to take the CCRN Neonatal Exam, the individual must be a registered nurse without any restrictions on his or her license of any kind. The candidate must have also worked in a critical care environment handling prenatal care for at least 1,750 hours of which 875 hours have been completed in the year prior to the candidate’s application.
Potential candidates can register for the CCRN Neonatal Exam on the AACN Certification Corporation website and can choose to take the CCRN test in either a computerized form administered by AMP or a written form administered by the NTI. The registration fee for the CCRN Neonatal Exam is $220 for AACN members and $325 for nonmembers.